India lost $1.3bn due to 4,196 hours of no internet

CHENNAI: Internet shutdowns in India are not just disruptions in routine and individual freedom, but are also having an economic impact on the country. Around 4,196 hours of internet blackouts in India cost the economy close to $1.3 billion in 2019, finds a study by UK-based tech research firm Top10Vpn.

India was the third worst-hit economy worldwide after crisis-hit Iraq and Sudan thanks to state-imposed shut downs across Jammu & Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Rajasthan, UP and other regions, shows the report. An average of 8.4 million internet users were impacted across the multiple incidents, it said.

The economic impact is likely to be higher, the study adds, given that the study only assessed large region-wide blackouts and India's smaller and more localised shutdowns weren't included.

"There were more internet shutdowns in 2019 than ever before," Samuel Woodhams and Simon Migliano, authors of the report by Top10Vpn told TOI in an email. "As for India, the frequency of disruptions still far surpasses any other country we analysed and, unless swift action is taken to reduce the number and duration of disruptions, the economic impact is likely to continue to rise," they added.

The vast majority of internet shutdowns in India in 2019 were highly localised and short-lived, but the costliest disruption occurred in Kashmir, where the shutdown remains ongoing.

"The shutdown in Kashmir is one of the longest internet shutdowns to have ever occurred and cost the Indian economy nearly $1.1 billion in 2019," Woodhams and Migliano said. It has hurt the economy, impacted local healthcare services, freedom of the press and education in the region.

The clampdown of internet services in the northeast in relation to the Citizenship Amendment Act resulted in around $102 million of economic impact, and the restrictions in Uttar Pradesh led to a $63 million hit.